| Summary: | Trabajo realizado en el Golfo de Tribuga, Choco. Utilizando ADN ambiental por primera vez en la region In recent decades, advances in molecular techniques have given rise to a new biomonitoring tool known as environmental DNA (eDNA). With an efficient, non-invasive, and replicable sampling approach, eDNA is currently posited as having great potential for the study of ecology and biodiversity, circumventing many of the challenges associated with traditional survey techniques. In this work we performed the first environmental DNA analysis for the Colombian Pacific region known as the Gulf of Tribugá. A place recognized worldwide for being a biodiversity Hotspot and a mission blue Hopespot. Using 32 environmental DNA collection kits provided by NatureMetrics®, environmental DNA samples were collected during a total of eight months, distributed in two seasons (humpback whale season / sardine season). The collected samples were analyzed using two primers designed for the vertebrate lineage, being the 12S_V5 rRNA and 16S rRNA region the chosen ones. More than 150 taxa of different classes were obtained, with fish being the most abundant taxa registered. Some of the fish species include pacific sierra (Scomberomorus sierra), houndfish (Tylosurus crocodilus), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis), longnose anchovy (Anchoa nasus), Pacific dog snapper (Lutjanus sp.) among others. However, there were also records of birds such as green heron (Butorides virescens) and magnificent frigate bird (Fregata magnificens); marine mammals such as the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), rough-toothed dolphin (Steno bredanensis), and terrestrial mammals as giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and bush dog (Speothos venaticus), among others. Other groups such as amphibians and reptiles were also detected in smaller proportions. Although not all records provide the lowest taxonomic classification and there are few false positives, the tool demonstrates a solid approximation to the species ...
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